Team News
HOUSTON’S CHRISTIAN DYER – ‘WE CREATED SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL’

PHOTO BY DAVE SNOOK
A DEBUT MLR SEASON
Before the 2022 MLR season, Dyer was one of many players to commit themselves to the Houston SaberCats. Since the league’s inaugural season in 2018, the team had never made the playoffs and enlisted the help of former South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer to lead the team. When the season got underway, it quickly became clear that Dyer was a vital cog in the Houston machine. Starting 16 games, the 24-year-old scored seven tries, ran for 816 meters, and beat 16 defenders. Along with Dyer, veteran USA internationals Danny Barrett and Matai Leuta arrived at AVEVA Stadium, as did a number of South Africans and Argentine players. Finishing the regular season with a 9-7 record, the side hosted the Western Conference Final in late June, a major step forward for a side that made such wholesale changes. Ultimately losing in the postseason 27-46 to eventual runners-up, the Seattle Seawolves, Dyer reflects fondly on his season with the SaberCats. “My time with Houston was incredible. We created something very special in such a short amount of time, and I really attribute that to Heyneke Meyer, the staff that he brought in, and even the management and those behind the scenes.” “It is a culture of chasing excellence in all aspects of the game and life, then the individuals that Coach Meyer brought in, players around the world; it didn’t really matter if you were from South Africa or Argentina or New Zealand. “Everybody loves the game of rugby, and everybody wanted to win. Those are your two fundamental aspects of a team that you need to reach a level of success. Everybody wanted to win. We didn’t get everything right all the time. “We fell short in games we shouldn’t have fell short, and I think we underperformed in the postseason. But it is definitely a platform that myself and the whole team can gain confidence from in the year to come.”
PHOTO BY BIG SHOTS SNAPSHOTS
WORLD CUP CALLING
For the past six weeks, Dyer has been preparing to help qualify the USA for the Rugby World Cup. After failing to beat Chile over two legs in the summer, for the next month Dyer and his Eagles teammates will be going toe-to-toe with three other nations looking to book their place in France next year. Their opposition last weekend was Kenya. On Sunday, Dyer scored three tries against the Eagles’ African opposition and was only beaten to the Player of the Match award by Rugby New York’s Dylan Fawsitt, who also bagged a trio of scores. https://twitter.com/USARugby/status/1589758173237645314 This weekend Hong Kong is the USA’s opposition, while Portugal will be lining up opposite Gary Gold’s team a week later. Their preparation has seen the team travel to South Africa and play the Free State Cheetahs and Pumas before flying to the United Arab Emirates. Despite losing their two preparation games, through spending such an extended period of time together, Dyer believes that the squad is in a good place ahead of these upcoming Tests. “From the technical aspect, it’s amazing,” Dyer said. “We have been able to have two proper matches against the Cheetahs and Pumas, and we gave everything we had in those matches, then we hit the drawing board the following days to really understand what style of play suits us best and what parts of our game needed more attention.” “We’re coming together as a team, bonds are becoming stronger than they were, we are understanding who the other players are off the field. I think that is an important topic that doesn’t get discussed enough’ some of the best teams in the world have strong connections off the field as well. “At the end of the day, we are all humans, so it’s important to understand how to get the best out of your teammate. We are searching for the soul of the team, and we are just scratching the surface in that regard.”
PHOTO BY DAVE SNOOK